One third of all Irish mortgage holders fear family home will be repossessed

Hundreds of thousands of Irish mortgage holders are living in fear that their homes will be repossessed by the banks.

A new research poll for the Sunday Independent highlights the fear factor now prevalent amongst mortgage payers as interest rates continue to rise.

The dramatic fall in the price of Irish property coupled with the collapse of the banking system and the rise in unemployment has led to the new fear.

The poll – carried out by the Quantum Research group for the Sunday Independent – has found that a third of all people surveyed now fear they will be unable to meet their repayments in the near future.

As a result of their dire financial state they are worried that their homes will be re-possessed by the very banks bailed out by the tax-payers as a result of the bank guarantee system introduced by the last Fianna Fail-Green Party government.

Asked by the Sunday Independent what their greatest fear was, 29 percent said losing their home, closely followed by an inability to pay household bills, a reduction in living standards and losing their job.